kmagvette

mr_roboteye, My basement is cool, but I have three dehumidifiers in the wood shop and I store boards/skis between 4 and 7 ft above the floor to mitigate potential condensation issues. The woodworking equipment does get paste wax applied to it and that may be helping the exposed steel resist rust. Hmmm, could Johnsons Paste Wax, or any Carnuba wax, be an answer? I will definately try this on the rock skis. Thanks for spurring the idea. The reason we don't use cutting oil as a lube when sharpening the edges is that the oil will inhibit wax from penetrating the base thereby reducing resistance to base burn. I had never considered Petroleum Jelly. Would you hot wax, scrape, jelly OR jelley, hot wax , and walk away?

I have always rubbed soft wax (CH12) on the edges followed by a generous hot wax with the same wax. Last season this let me down and I had some rust on the edges. So I am looking for alternatives for this summer, got any? I store my boards/skis inverted and horizontal on a wall rack in the basement. They are in my woodshop with the table saw, jointer, and other tools with steel surfaces that do not exhibit any signs of rust - ever. I see that storage threads from previous years focus on camber destruction and how to prevent it; I figure if the board can stand up to my fat a$$ repeatedly bending the snot out of it, run after run, then it can deal with a few months of hanging out however I deem most convenient. Hope that doesn't detract from the edge focus of this thread

Damn, more people with Duck Feet :) I have 8 4E paddles. I simply got lucky when it came to boots. I found some Raichle 325's with Thermoflex liners on eBay. My boot fitter did have to stretch the shells a little bit, but other than that the fit is perfect after doing the heat/pack-out on the liners.

I have been ski racing for an embarrassing number of years, something stupid like 29 years. I have owned too many bevel guides to mention up until I discovered the "Side of Beast" file/stone holder. (let google search for "Side of Beast"). It is stump stupid simple to use. I put a 3 deg. side bevel of everything I own otherwise I forget (3 sets of skis, two boards) and a 0.5 deg base bevel except for high speed equipment which gets 1.0 deg. I use the cheap SWIX base bevel guides and diamond file only. Use the 100 mm SVST 220 grit diamond file. The moonflex diamond files are great, but the SVST diamond file is long enough to use in the base bevel guides. Also you can get replacement abrasive for the tool. I do use the finer grit moon flex stones for fine polishing, but only when I know the course will be glare ice - like after it rains. Be sure to lubricate your diamond files/stones or you will trash them. Some use water and a little bit of soap, I prefer a 50/50 mixture of water and denatured alchohol. Soak the stone and keep the edges wet at all times. Use a stiff tooth brush to keep the diamond file clean. For hard to remove crap stuck in the file, use a fine brass brush - and plenty of your favorite lube. As far as the true bar thing goes...I use it to tell me when it is time for a bottom grind. Find a trustworthy race shop and let them do a base grind and structure. Your board will come back dead flat and all you need to do is set the base bevel. Do not let the shop touch your side bevel otherwise you will need to reset it to what your bevel tool believes 3 deg is. At the risk of rambling on...once the edge bevels are set, I never use a metal file unless the edges get a major ding. The 220 SVST diamond file removes enough edge materal to keep things razor sharp. Ditto comments on drill brushes. If you are not racing, use as hard a wax as you can for the conditions and do a light scrape while the wax is still slightly warm. Let the snow finish all the scraping for you. You might want to brush out the middle of your board if you find that the structure is not cleaned out by riding.

I am newer to the alpine snowboard arena, but a relatively accomplished ski racer. You absolutely steer your skis through at least the middle of the turn. This is done by driving your shins into the cuff of the boot in the 10 and 2 positions on the clock. Another way to visualize this is, in a left hand turn, driving your right knee toward the tip of your left ski. If you do not do this you give up the ability to strongly initiate the turn and typically give up the tails on exit; you end up sideways, not carving. On the snowboard you (I think) do the same thing, especially on ice. You load the front of the board to get it to initiate, once the board is fully decambered into the turn, you shift your weight back a bit to lock in the tail and store the board's energy for turn exit. I am self taught on the snowboard side, so feel free to abuse my remarks; I might learn something ;)

Well, it looks like people certainly like the Coiler. I was hoping to find something from the previously enjoyed market in the $300 range; I also race three disciplines on skis, my equipment bill is hideous. As possible alternatives, any thoughts on a 178 Free Carve Coiler or the Madd 170? I think both have a 10-11m SCR. Thanks for advice thus far.

I have a Speed 165 with TD2's. I am totally self taught with substantial help from the resources on this forum - thanks. I think I am at the point where I need to make the next step with respect to the board. When free riding it feels like the nose of the board over initiates, especially on toe-side. If I shift my weight back a little, then then whole board pushes a bit through the turn - get a 1->2" wide, but square, trench rather than leaving a nice clean slice in the snow. If I slow down, or make shallower turns all is well. I also do some racing, not crazy stuff; the courses look more like decent NASTAR sets. Speeds are in the typically in the 30 mph range with moderate offsets between the gates. I am looking for something that will be a bit more stable and speed as well as in a choppy course. I am not a super-advanced rider by any stretch of the imagination, I am riding in the East so I need something with a slalom-esque sidecut. So, with the above in mind, any suggestions?

I am frying my bases every time I go out. I wax daily. I just applied an extreme cold wax to the suspect areas and did a warm scrape to prevent chipping. Even warm this wax is a PITA to scrape and the amount of heat you put into the board is a bit disturbing - no smoke of course, maybe a little :). Has any better remedy been developed for this problem?

De-grunge the pack using your favorite method. I use chlorox and rinse a few times. Then I use Aquabon in my water. No chlorine taste. I do the same thing with my water tanks in the boat, except I use a lot more chlorox. After rinsing, I add the appropriate amount of Aquabon. Water tastes good for quite a while and Ice Cubes (very important to boaters) don't smell at all. Aquabon can be found at your favorite marine store. Google also knows where to get it.

On the top sheet of my racing skis I use Nu-Finish - cause its cheap. Most of the white liquid waxes are identical {Turtle Wax, 2000, Mequires, Ultimate Finish, etc}. As far as Rain-X goes...in the spring when the snow starts getting your bases filthy, use Rain-X on the base to clean between runs. Gets the dirt out and man is it slippery in the start.

Yes, this is a very good assumption. I hesitated getting the Speed as it is the widest board I've ever been on (20 cm). Perhaps that accounts for a lot of the perceived stiffness. Now for the funny part: To date my bindings were very old dead flat Burton Variplates (I think). My TD2's (couldn't pass on a good deal) just showed up on the porch today. I have a whole herd of cant plates of various angles so a lot of experimenting is in my future. Hopefully these bindings will help this beginner reel in the Speed. Thanks for all you responses. As I have posted earlier, I have never seen anyone else with an alpine set-up where I ride/ski. So I rely on you guys.

I'm a little confused. I had a Burton FP (151) that I thought had a nice soft flex. Someone (not the seller) talked me nto a Burton Speed (160) and indicated that it was just a little softer than the FP. Well I got out on the Speed and it is a rock copared to the FP. I can carve it OK, but it needs some gas. Just wondering if my ovservation comparing the flex of both boards is in line with what you guys see. The Speed was a lot of fun on a GS course.

I took the T6 (164) out for a demo ride today - just transfered my hardboot set-up to the board keeping all of my normal angles. I thought it was awful on ice, no tail. Brought it back to the Burton tent and they put a quick tune on the thing and it made a world of difference. I do think the board is too soft for speed in hardboots, but it would make a nice cruiser for when condition are sloppy, bumpy, and/or crowded

When I was a rabid ski racer I would go with 0* base bevel on slalom skis, 1* on GS, and 2* on Super-G and DH boards. I am older and lazy now, everthing gets 1*. Mostly this is because I don't want my edges structured when I send them through the grinder at a ski shop. Most shops will put a 1* bevel on your base prior to structuring because edges tend to trash structuring stones forcing them to re-face the stone more frequently. Like others said, on the snowboard the bevel settles the board a bit and cuts down on body-slams a bit.

On hero snow you can get away with leaning into the turn too much, got all the grip in the world to fall into. On ice, you need to have to keep your CG on or very close to the edge of the board/ski; if you don't then you experience the sensation of there not being any grip - sometimes you feel it too, ouch.